The present disclosure is related generally to the field of dental treatment. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to methods, systems, and devices for expanding an arch of a patient. Dental treatments may involve, for instance, restorative and/or orthodontic procedures.
Restorative procedures may be designed to implant a dental prosthesis (e.g., a crown, bridge inlay, onlay, veneer, etc.) intraorally in a patient. Orthodontic procedures may include repositioning misaligned teeth and/or changing bite configurations for improved cosmetic appearance and/or dental function. Orthodontic repositioning can be accomplished, for example, by applying controlled forces to one or more teeth over a period of time
As an example, orthodontic repositioning may be provided through a dental process that uses positioning appliances for realigning teeth. Such appliances may utilize a thin shell of material having resilient properties, referred to as an “aligner,” that generally conforms to a patient's teeth but is slightly out of alignment with a current tooth configuration.
Placement of such an appliance over the teeth may provide controlled forces in specific locations to gradually move the teeth into a new configuration. Repetition of this process with successive appliances in progressive configurations can move the teeth through a series of intermediate arrangements to a final desired arrangement.
Such systems typically utilize materials that are lightweight and/or transparent to provide a set of appliances that can be used serially such that as the teeth move, a new appliance can be implemented to further move the teeth toward the desired goal.
In some instances, the width of a dental arch of a patient's upper dentition and/or and a width of a dental arch of a patient's lower dentition can be insufficient (e.g., too narrow) and on rare occasions, the width may be excessive (e.g., Brodie bite). A dental arch that is insufficient can result in malocclusions such as crossbite, crowding of teeth, impacted teeth, and/or the patient's smile may not be aesthetically pleasing in appearance. For instance, a patient's smile may be “narrow” resulting in a sunken appearance in the buccal corridors due to the inability to see the back teeth from the front view.
In certain types of front-to-back bite correction (e.g., Class II and Class III correction), a need for transverse width correction exists, without which the upper and lower arches will not be properly coordinated. For Class II correction, the upper needs to be expanded so that when the lower is advanced, the teeth in the buccal regions (typically the bicuspids and molars) are fitting together correctly in the buccal-lingual dimension. For Class III correction, the reverse is required, and the lower needs to be expanded since it is usually the one that has compensated for the Class III bite by constricting. When both Class II and Class III are corrected to a more ideal Class I bite, the respective compensations need to be undone, and a transverse width dimension of movement is necessary in addition to the anterior-to-posterior movement.
The width of a dental arch of a patient can be expanded, for instance, using an orthodontic appliance. The typical process for correcting a narrow appearance is palatal expansion. Currently available orthodontic appliances can include a permanent fixture that may be displeasing, both physically and aesthetically, to a patient. For example, currently available orthodontic appliances can include a jackscrew and/or other mechanism that is employed to deliver a horizontal stretching force to the molar teeth to split the upper jaw of the patient along the midpalatal suture. Such a mechanism typically spreads the left and right maxillary plates of the palate apart and then new bone material grows in between to fill the gap. As such, a large horizontal force, in many cases, is delivered by a professional and can cause discomfort and/or pain for a patient.
In some instances, the screw and/or other mechanism can be employed incrementally one or more times a day (e.g. 0.25 mm expansion twice a day—one activation in the morning and once at night). For example, a pinhole can be present in the orthodontic appliance and a patient can insert an activation key into the pinhole to incrementally increase a distance between portions of the orthodontic appliance. Such orthodontic appliances can be difficult for a patient to use, and often require assistance from another person (e.g., a parent) to turn the key. Not only are such appliances often not aesthetically pleasing, they often times interfere with the patient's speech, temporarily affect their ability to chew and/or swallow, and/or can be painful when activated. Adding to the challenges of such an appliance is the need to retain the expansion while the bone is filling into the suture, long after the active expansion has taken place. The active expansion process may be completed within 2 or 3 weeks' time, but the retention period can last around 6 months while waiting for the gap between the maxillary halves to fill in with new bony tissue.